There are some factions of America that revel in the fact that we have around 7,000 military drones deployed overseas, patrolling, sometimes nuking, foreign soil.

But in a few years the tables will turn.

In February, Obama passed a controversial bill–H.R. 658, the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012—allowing the commercial use of drones in 2015. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) estimates that 30,000 civilian drones will swarm the country within a decade. Commercial uses could include anything from helping law enforcement officers patrol hard-to-reach areas to monitoring weather patterns. Civilian drones can be outfitted with software that collects video footage, recognizes faces, intercepts cell towers, scans entire cities, and much, much more.

These far-flung plans really hit home for us when, earlier this month, the U.S. Army began testing old military drones for use domestically. Furthermore, the FAA recently disclosed the names of 60 agencies, mostly law enforcement agencies and universities, who've been permitted to deploy drones in three years' time.

The FAA is responsible for regulating this initiative, but according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), there's been very little progress on this front.

Leaving privacy concerns aside, unlike military drones civilian drones are highly vulnerable to breaches as well. Over the weekend at the HOPE 9 conference in New York City the EFF's Trevor Timms and Parker Higgins discussed just easy it is to hack into a civilian drones.

Pwn the DronesUnlike military drones, most civilian drones use unencrypted GPS feeds to save on costs. This was only revealed last week when a professor at the University of Texas hijacked a surveillance drone by spoofing GPS signals, sending it crashing into the ground instead of upwards.

And although drones have a remote wipe functionality, if the drone's already lost contact with its command center it wouldn't even receive this command.

It's also a myth that drones are expensive. At Google I/O, I kept dodging an AR drone being controlled by the Nexus 7 over Wi-Fi. The drone was capturing footage from around the expo hall and streaming it to a huge display. Those things only cost a few hundred dollars. Wired editor-in-chief Chris Andersen runs DIY Drones, a community of roughly 30,000 members who build dirt-cheap amateur drones. By 2015 they'll be able to deploy them for commercial purposes.

"This raises a two-pronged problem," EFF activist Trevor Timm told Security Watch. "On the one side, there are major privacy dangers. On the other, very basic safety concerns about thousands of these things flying in the air. Pilots have already submitted written comments to the FAA about how dangerous it would be to their flying patterns."

Can You Spot 'Em?In sci-fi movies, terrorist drones are big, dark, conspicuous. In real life, however, they're becoming smaller and nimbler than ever. Ever since Obama passed the bill in February we've seen the shrinking trend in drone technology:

Maple seed-sized drones: in July Lockheed Martin demonstrated its mechanized winged seed, called the Samari. “You can literally pull this out of your pocket, throw it into the air, and it can start flying,” Borgia told TPM. “It can take off and land vertically indoors.” According to a video demo, the Samarai was meant to be deployed in industrial settings and farms, collecting surveillance videos (perhaps to ecatch industrial crimes).

Mosquito drones: In January the Washington Post discovered mockups of camera-equipped, mosquito-sized drones being developped by the CIA. The drones were able to take DNA samples or inject objects beneath the skin.

Supersonic mini drone: At the University of Colorodo, researchers are reportedly developing a 22 lb aerial drone that can be used to analyze storms (civilian purpose) or for military reconnaissance.

Laser-charged drones: Not so much about size, but this is quite a technology feat. Last week a laser company announced a novel way to charge drones using lasers, ensuring "practically unlimited flight endurance" a product manager told The Verge.

What You Can DoGet angry. Get loud. The EFF is working with Muckrock to help you easily file a Freedom of Information request to your elected officials asking for detail on how, where, and why drones will be used. Click here to submit your request.

"The first step is to find out what they're going to do with them," Timm said. "A lot of agencies have kept this a secret."

Thanks to earlier requests, the EFF has already learned of 60 agencies with drone certificates, mostly local police departments. Over the weekend, the EFF received 125 pages from various agencies, but at first glance the EFF found out what types of drones were being used, just not how or why.

About the Author

Sara Yin is a junior analyst in the Software, Internet, and Networking group at PCmag.com, pouring most of her energy into app testing and security matters at Security Watch with Neil Rubenking. She lies awake at night pondering the state of mobile security (half-true).
Prior to joining PCMag.com, Sara spent five years reporting for publication... See Full Bio

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